#Vorkosigan

[mytly4]

I'm currently rereading Barrayar, and flipped back to Shards to check on a bit of dialogue, and came across this little line:

"Why can't you just lose your temper with subordinates, like normal men, instead of with superiors, like a lunatic?"

This is said by Rulf Vorhalas to Aral, right after his conversation with Prince Serg in his cabin during the Escobar war. Now, there's a valid reason why Aral speaks to the Prince so disrepectfully - it's a part of the ruse to goad Serg to fight on the frontlines in the war and get annihilated. Nonethless, something tells me that this wasn't in the least bit out of character for Aral, especially as Vorhalas frames it as something that Aral has done before. Which of course, reminds me of this exchange, from The Vor Game:

Cecil flashed a grin. "Quite. Plus your rather irritating habit of treating your superior officers as your, ah . . ." Cecil paused, apparently groping again for just the right word.

"Equals?" Miles hazarded.

"Cattle," Cecil corrected judiciously. "To be driven to your will."

So looks like insubordination runs in the family. 😉 Granted, Miles would never think of "being disrespectful to superiors" as something he has in common with his father (especially as during his lifetime, his father had no superiors, except Gregor), but it's interesting to see that Miles follows in his Da's footsteps in a way that he never intended.

[unhelpfulfemme]

Okay, so you know how Barrayar is full of stories of evil mutants kidnapping innocent Vor maidens, just like we IRL have a bunch of story templates exploiting our societal fears of some exoticized evil Other stealing our women?

And you know how modern romance/erotica takes those stories and turns them into erotic fantasies? Like, women have been going mad over The Phantom of the Opera for centuries, we've had stories about innocent maidens being forced into arranged marriages with big dick sheikhs and Middle Eastern princes for decades, and in the past decade or so both monster romance and villain romance have become completely mainstream staples of the genre?

And you know how Miles allegedly killing Tien so he could court Ekaterin was Vorbarr Sultana's Scandal of the Year for a short while, before the whole affair was capped by Ekaterin's very memorable and very public proposal?

Now, imagine some repressed Vor housewives hearing about it and thinking, in a similar vein to what Mark thought, "NGL, that's kinda hot. I always did have those fantasies where I was ravished by the villain, and I really do sometimes wish my boring sexist husband were dead." Because now that they've caught up on galactic genetics the actual fear of mutant children is kinda low among the bored upper class housewives who can afford gene cleaning, so it's the perfectly zeitgeisty moment to exoticize and objectify the mutants instead.

So one of said bored housewives decides to anonymously write a pulpy gothic-esque dark romance/erotica novel about it. Except obviously the scrawny short guy doesn't make for an appealing romantic hero, so she makes him a Taura-esque tall, massively ripped fellow who growls all his lines a là ACOTAR's Rhysand and conveniently makes all his mutations sexy in the vein of, like, A/B/O novels or Ice Planet Barbarians.

Imagine "Ravished by the Billionaire Secret Agent Mutant Count" slowly becoming popular among the ladies and the main cast learning about it, Miles lamenting about it having come out now when he's happily married and not when he was fifteen and desperate to get laid, Ivan suddenly gaining a lot more traction with the girls because they've caught onto the real life inspiration for the novel and are wondering if the Big Dick Mutation comes from Ivan's side of the family, Cordelia shamelessly reading it at dinner (she's the only person who's read it without wrapping the cover) and annoyedly pointing out the biological inaccuracies as Aral begs her to stop, Mark seeing the opportunity for a cash grab and buying the holodrama rights...

[leojurand]

this cover in general is giving nothing but that scratched out miles vorkosigan to write ivan's name is so endearing to me like... that's my boy!

[unbizzarre]

Cetegandan concept sketches

Wanted to try my hand at Cetegandan clothing. Not sure how Gem differs from Haut, though I'm leaning towards Gem being more flamboyant, space-grabbing and structured (left and right) whereas Haut is flowy-er and layered, with some lab attire with a both aesthetic and practical bent.

In general clothing styles try to evoke imagery of flowers, petals, and delicate layering. I'm playing around with incorporating butterfly shapes in the silhouette. (see swallowtail sleeves on far left). While the garments are light and flowy, very little skin is left showing. The clothing style is an elegant synthesis of Grecian drapery and certain elements from historic Japanese, Chinese, and Korean garments. My muse was also inspired to create a similar feeling to some of my favorite Star Wars costume design sketches I've run across. I also really enjoy having folds radiating out from a central point, or folding out like petals above and below a belt/waistline. Will probably do more studies to further explore the variety of ceta styles I've imagined.

tbh i imagine cetagandan womens clothing is actually a bit less colorful. maybe more whites and creams. But I just had fun messin about with butterfly colors

OH HELL YEAH TIME TO CITE THOSE SOURCES! :::

these specific designs pull from and synthesise shapes I found in

Roberto Cappuci Haute Couture 1987 "angel of god" or "Andgelo d'Oro" (angel of gold) depending on which pinterst image I reference

and

this dress by Issa Hesso from the Rebirth Collection

starwars concept art I enjoy:

like fuck me this guys so good

you can find more by searching: iain mccaig padme amidala concept art

overall pretty happy with how these turned out :D! Feel like I successfully captured the space-elf-fairy vibes I was going for. If you notice any cannon clothing details I left out, or have your own creative ideas on how you imagine cetagandan cloting to look, feel free to leave a comment! I love hearing other people's insights :). Particularly curious how ceta clothing may have changed between occupation time period and modern miles-era ceta clothing. Given their heavily artistic bent I could imagine fashions may change wildly year to year decade to decade. But also given how long they live, perhaps the mainstream styles is actually less malleable? If so what are the common themes that are preseved?

thanks for reading!

[thirdwifeofriversong]

“oh, well. wing it.”

- the Vorkosigan saga, a summary

(The Warrior’s Apprentice, pg. 75)

[sylvanmigdal]

Ivan buys a vase.

[cactusspatz]

Feedback Fest 2024

For Feedback Fest 2024, 10 recs for the 10th anniversary of International Fanworks Day!

I decided to rec stories that have become basically canon to me - the ones I feel compelled to seek out when I'm hit by a craving for an unofficial sequel, or unofficial prequel, or additional scene that completes things, or something that wraps up a dangling thread perfectly. Multiple fandoms, arranged from shortest to longest in length, because why not.

The People's Servants by @cesperanza Fandom: The West Wing | Rating: G | Ship: Josh/Donna It's Big Block of Cheese Day in the Santos White House.

Pulling the Thorn by @dsudis Fandom: Die Hard | Rating: T | Ship: Matt/John There's a huge scar down the sole of John's left foot.

A Thousand Miles by therienne Fandom: ATLA | Rating: G | Ship: none Zuko and Iroh start their journey.

Mr Wooster and the Restorative Preparation by innocentsmith Fandom: Jeeves & Wooster | Rating: G | Ship: Jeeves/Wooster Jeeves finds himself a new situation. Pre-series, save for the very end.

Ancel’s Annotated Pillow Talk by aldiara Fandom: Captive Prince | Rating: E | Ship: Ancel/Berenger “Tell me what you would have said, as a pet,” asked Berenger, “and then tell me the truth. We’ll split the difference.” (A coda to the "Pet" short story.)

The Way Is Shut by 42AngryCymraeg Fandom: World War Z | Rating: T | Ship: none The first expedition to North Korea has returned. The news is… bad.

No Second Coming by Aria Fandom: The Dark is Rising | Rating: G | Ship: Bran/Will "But there's only me," Will said in sudden panic. "I have no one --" He stopped abruptly. "I must correct mistakes."

Aral Vorkosigan's Dog by @philomytha Fandom: Vorkosigan Saga | Rating: T | Ship: none Illyan is assigned to watch Aral Vorkosigan during the Escobaran war. Soon he has to choose between his duty and his conscience, and the consequences rapidly get beyond him.

A Very Long Summer by Calathea Fandom: I Want To Go Home! | Rating: T | Ship: Rudy/Mike Mike and Rudy go back to Camp Algonkian Island… as counsellors!

Carpetbaggers by cofax Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia | Rating: G | Ship: none After the coronation festivities, the real work begins. (set during/post "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe")

Enjoy! If you have any favorites like these in any of my fandoms, I'd love to read them, so send me a link!

[psqqa]

every book gregor shows up for like two scenes, says three lines that leave you rotating him in your brain forever, and then fucks off again to one of his 3482920428393 meetings

[rennemichaels]

Who all is going to DragonCon this year? I hope to meet up with some of the authors and artists in my favorite FanFics

Marvel, FrostIron, WinterFrost, FrostShield, TaserTricks, Georgette Heyer, Vorkosigan, Lexx, ect...

[starfishlikestoread]

Inspiration struck and this is the result (click for better quality!)

This work on AO3.

[swordshapedleaves]

Mark Vorkosigan, upon hearing the rumor that his brother Miles murdered a guy to get with his wife:

[leojurand]

"Why do you let Barrayar screw you over?" "It's the hand I was dealt." "By whom? I don't get it." "It's all right. It just happens to be very important to me to win with the hand I was dealt. So be it."

miles' feelings wrt barrayar are both really interesting and really infuriating because why are you like this with the parents you have

[unbizzarre]

BARRAYARAN COSTUME DESIGN

The process for costume design:

Had fun looking through a whole bunch of reference images to try to create a costume set that reflected the strong sense of tradition with midieval-esque holdovers from hand textiles that would have had to be the norm during barreyars period of isolation, while also accounting for the wealth of the current barreyaran aristocracy and their access to modern galactic trends and clothing. I also didn’t want the midieval influences to be generic-fantasy-vaguely-european-bulshit, so I also tried to find reference images with styles, patterns, and silhouettes that where somewhat reminiscent of the French, Russian, and Greek cultural heritage barnyard first settlers may have brought with them. That being said, it wouldn’t make sense for any of these traditional garments to have been preserved with 1-for-1 accuracy from there earth origins over the many centuries (cuz like, irl traditional dress in these countries is less and less common) so I didnt want to just copy exactly historical garments.

OH! And then I also had to make sure the men’s clothing also reflected the pseudo-military affectations which Bujold has mentioned in multiple books as being popular in menswear amongst the vor cast. (Ex: the formal riding boots, and the two swords carried at formal events, or less formally vor “town clowns” also wearing casual clothing reminiscent of a military cut.) but! In order to do this, I had to think of both what would have been military uniforms both in isolation-barrayar and modern barrayar, and which aspects of each set of military uniforms would be incorporated into modern men’s fashion. Would any women’s clothing also reflect this warrior trend?

Finally, since all of this costume design was brainstorming for the dinner party scene, I wanted to make sure that the clothes matched the personalities of the people wearing them. Like aunt Alice and Professors Vorthis are both middle aged Vor-caste women, but will have vastly contrasting style. Alice being alice, her clothing will likely be both perfect for the occasion while also a sleek and elegant combination of the leading barreyaran fashions, while also giving a nod to traditional barreyaran costume at times as she is a representative of both the state and her old-vor house. The professora on the other hand, will probably opt for something comfortable and cozy, while not especially showy, as she is more concerned with her studies and gardens and is not super involved in the Vorbarra-sultana social scene.

Some of the reference images I used:

And many many sooooo many more. So much borrowed creativity from all over the internet I feel bad I can’t more accurately site all my sources 😞

Also some random cool aesthetic modern shit that I thought had fun sci fi vibes as well as some *sigh* generic-euro fantasy clothing cuz sometimes you need to be a little basic.

Also a lot of cool art by artists I love that is just dope costume design and totally all their work. Idk the names of a lot of them cuz I’m not really active on social media and only really see the images amidst thousands of others in my Pinterest hoard but I always recognize the artsyles and creativity and wind up saving them to reference art boards 🙈

Some that I do remember and love a lot are cy-lindric, Juliette, and Celia Lowenthall

[thirdwifeofriversong]

if someone told me, last summer when i was reading shards of honor, that a VORRUTYER would be one of my favorite characters, i would’ve laughed in their face… but that was before i met dono

[linny-of-the-lakes]

Finally assembling my Vorkosicast

Arc 2: Young Miles & the Dendarii Free Mercenaries

Miles Naismith Vorkosigan: Aiden Gallagher* *Should actually be an unknown disabled actor, but consider the VIBES

Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan: Sigourney Weaver

Regent Aral Vorkosigan: Stellan Skarsgaard

General Count Piotr Vorkosigan: Charles Dance

Simon Illyan: Martin Freeman

Konstantin Bothari: Adam Driver

Elena Bothari: Dafne Keen

Arde Mayhew: Alex Brightman

Ky Tung: Benedict Wong

Bel Thorne: River Gallo

[amusedmuralist]

💕 for the hyperfixation ask game!

Favourite character:

One of my oldest hyperfixations (though not my oldest) is The Vorkosigan Saga which has TOO MANY FAVOURITE PEOPLE IN IT

That being said, I've based a great deal of my personal philosophy on two quotes of Miles Naismith and one comment about him from the same book, Borders of Infinity.

That's one where Miles gives into the inexorable pull of his archetype and starts a cult to save a prisoner of war camp. He tries to go the straightforward route, a rescue of the individual best known and most inspiring captain but that fails. So instead, he encourages the largest fraction to abandon revenge.

The quotes are (paraphrased):

"Revenge is a dead thing, reaching from the past to pull you to a stop. Power is Alive, it envigorates and flings you to a different future. Aim for power."

"Now there's this about cynicism, Sargent. It's the world's most comfortable moral position. Fucking supine. If the world is terrible and you can't fix it, you can lie still and rot in perfect peace."

And as for about him:

"Miles's a liar. A fake." "No. He thinks he's faking it, but he's not. And that's enough for me at least."

Which I like far better than fake it until you make it. Do your best to improve even if for reasons you don't quite trust to be real

Miles is someone we follow one to one from 19 to his 50s and you see him grow and strive and meet hopes from his parents in a way unthinkable when they fret over his uterine replicator. He is adhd as all hell, he's a charisma based character with the need to believe so strongly he convinces others.

I dunno. I love him your honour.